Appeal
If in my arms I bore my child,Would he cry out for fearBecause the night was dark and wildAnd no one else was near?
Shall I then treat thee, Father, asMy fatherhood would grieve?I will be hopeful, though, alas,I cannot quite believe!
I had no power, no wish to be:Thou madest me half blind!The darkness comes! I cling to thee!Be thou my perfect mind.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- fatherhood n.
- The state of being a father; the character or authority of a father; paternity.
- hopeful a.
- Full of hope, or agreeable expectation; inclined to hope; expectant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Appeal is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, Appeal, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/appeal.html, id L22329.
Form and metre
Appeal is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB childA · fearB · wildA · nearB
- 2 -A-A as · grieveA · alas · believeA
- 3 ABAB beA · blindB · theeA · mindB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If in my arms I bore my child, | 8 | ········ |
| Would he cry out for fear | 6 | ······ |
| Because the night was dark and wild | 8 | ········ |
| And no one else was near? | 6 | ······ |
| Shall I then treat thee, Father, as | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My fatherhood would grieve? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I will be hopeful, though, alas, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I cannot quite believe! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| I had no power, no wish to be: | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Thou madest me half blind! | 6 | ······ |
| The darkness comes! I cling to thee! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Be thou my perfect mind. | 6 | ···˘/· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.